I cannot think of something more typically Dutch than transporting your lunch sandwich on a bicycle like this:

Despite my earlier voiced contempt for MacPorts, I present you build_macports64, a small script which bootstraps a 64-bit MacPorts environment from their SVN repository. No manual intervention is required.

Dependencies: 32-bit MacPorts installed (you want to keep it anyway for the moment), and a configured sudo. By default, it installs to /opt/local64/.

I have the following packages build and installed (here, universal means x86_64):

% port installed
The following ports are currently installed:
  apr @1.3.3_1+universal (active)
  apr-util @1.3.4_1+universal (active)
  bzip2 @1.0.5_2+universal (active)
  curl @7.19.5_0+universal (active)
  db45 @4.5.20_4+universal (active)
  db46 @4.6.21_5+universal (active)
  expat @2.0.1_0+universal (active)
  gettext @0.17_4+universal (active)
  gmake @3.81_0+universal (active)
  gperf @3.0.4_0+universal (active)
  libiconv @1.12_2+universal (active)
  ncurses @5.7_0+universal (active)
  ncursesw @5.7_0+universal (active)
  openssl @0.9.8k_0+universal (active)
  pkgconfig @0.23_1+universal (active)
  popt @1.15_0+universal (active)
  readline @6.0.000_1+universal (active)
  sqlite3 @3.6.14.1_0+universal (active)
  tcl @8.5.6_0+threads+universal (active)
  zlib @1.2.3_2+universal (active)

Sadly, at the moment there are some crucial packages which do not build as x86_64 even if requested (perl, boost). For others, the build just breaks, e.g., because CFLAGS are not passed properly. But that was to be expected, I guess. With more people using it and reporting/fixing bugs, the situation is likely to improve over time.

Some assembly required:

Evidently, this did not not originate from the IKEA School of Furniture Construction…

Yesterday night, the building we lived in burned down. We escaped with just luck and what we were wearing at the time.

Main point is nobody got hurt. Now we are piecing things back together. SNAFU.

UPDATE 2009-05-07: Back on Track...

You don’t ever own a bicycle in Florence; you just look after it for a while for the bike thieves.

After seeing how the locals park their velos, I can sort of see why:

Also, nevermind the narrow one-way streets through which buses are zooming frequently.